Have you ever heard something like “The market is a battle, be ready to fight with all you’ve got,” or “The market is a war,” or any variation of this theme? I bet you have, it’s a fairly common theme. But is it true, or better question might be: is this a mindset that you want to adopt?
Don’t get me wrong – by no means do I want to present a marketplace as a happy place where refined gentlemen high-five your each win (hmm, do refined gentlemen high-five at all? or they back-slap only?) and console you with fine whiskey and cigar after each loss. No, they are out to get you just as much as you – them. In that sense, anyone in the market is an enemy of anyone else. But that’s not really the point. The point is, is kind of attitude toward the marketplace and its happenings going to help you survive it, navigate it successfully? Or is it going to undermine your success?
Don’t get me wrong – by no means do I want to present a marketplace as a happy place where refined gentlemen high-five your each win (hmm, do refined gentlemen high-five at all? or they back-slap only?) and console you with fine whiskey and cigar after each loss. No, they are out to get you just as much as you – them. In that sense, anyone in the market is an enemy of anyone else. But that’s not really the point. The point is, is kind of attitude toward the marketplace and its happenings going to help you survive it, navigate it successfully? Or is it going to undermine your success?
If the market is war for you, you are going to be in the fighting mode all the time. Can you function well for long in a constant fight mode? It’s extremely tense mode which is going to wear you out rather quickly. Instead, allow me to offer you a very different attitude – one where a market is a natural environment for a trader – environment where certain patterns govern all the comings and goings. Is it a dangerous place for a trader? Of course it is. Think of it as of ocean. It’s a dangerous place to be and swimming in it is a dangerous thing to do – just as trading the markets.
It is common for traders to complain of a lack of confidence in their trading, but very often it is overconfidence that does them in. Overconfidence results from a lack of appreciation of the complexity of markets and an underestimation of the challenges of trading them successfully. In a sense, overconfident traders lack respect for the markets. They think that reading about a few setups or buying the newest software will prepare them to make money. Overconfident traders don’t want to work their way up the trading ladder: they resist the idea that screen time is the best teacher. They also chafe at the idea of growing their account. Rather than start with one contract and wait until they’re profitable before trading larger size, they want big positions—and profits—right away. Because they’re so eager to make money—and so sure they can make it—overconfident traders generally trade impulsively. They won’t wait for the setup to form; they’ll jump the gun—and get whipsawed in the process. Instead of being patient and waiting for short-term patterns to align with longer-term patterns, they will take every trade, enriching their brokers in the process.